David Louis, based in the Jewellery Quarter, designs contemporary tableware items and sells them via David-Louis.com and Gifts of Distinction. One of his items is this spaghetti measurer which I happened to see in the window of Sarah Preisler‘s shop in the Custard Factory the other day and had no idea what it was. Mystery solved then:
David also runs a blog at David Louis Product Design where he unveiled this little short, stop-frame animation made using his ‘Flip Top ‘Beer Cube’ Bottle Opener’:
Back in April Pete did a round-up of Birmingham creatives on Twitter. There have been many additions since then, including accounts registered in the names of various local companies, festivals, etc who are using the (free!) service in all sorts of ways.
Not all of them are being used all year round or even updated all that regularly, but you never know when someone’s going to pick up an account and start using it again.
Here are the ones I’m aware of, in no particular order:
I also have my suspicions that the person behind The Day Today (occasionally coughing out lines from the show) is a prominent fellow in the city’s media. There’s only circumstantial evidence so far, but I’m on their case.
If you’ve come across any others to add to the list then please shout em up in the comments.
Buy One Get One Free Book Offer
“The Birmingham Book Festival takes place from 1st to 24th October and the Festival team have arranged a special buy one get one free ticket offer for Creative Republic members for 3 of their events”
Call for Artists and Makers for Festive Flair 2008
“Flair aims to bring together the very best of the region’s creative talent in one place and showcase high quality work”. Held at the Chubb Buildings in Wolverhampton on 6 Dec. If you want a stall then get your application in
NU Century Arts
Loads of stuff coming up at The Drum from NU Century Arts. I really wish they’d put their newsletters somewhere I could link to though
Myspace.com Blogs – Amanda Palmer @ MBC! – ForeRunner Records MySpace Blog
Forerunner Records and FEED are hosting a seminar by Amanda Palmer (of The Dresden Dolls) at Matthew Boulton College on Friday 3 Oct before she performs at the Custard Factory that evening. Tickets are limited so contact forerunnerrecords@hotmail.com to enquire.
Kebablog
Steve Cooper writes this blog and takes some nice photos
Frankie Ward interviews Mary Wakelam of Birmingham Jazz and they discuss winning her BBC bursary, her new band Maylight, Rush Hour Blues, bringing jazz into Birmingham’s music venues, Gigbeth and resonance events:
Tomorrow I’ll be offering some tickets for the next resonance events shindig at the Town Hall. There might be a question from the interview, so take notes.
Coming up from Birmingham Jazz:
Wednesday 24th September
Jazz Club with Maylight at The Rainbow, Digbeth (£3)
Thursday 25th September
Sara Colman Album Launch at The Glee Club (£8/£6)
Tuesday 30th September
James Bashford Quintet at The Jam House (free)
Friday 3rd October resonance events presents The Heritage Orchestra (playing the music of Amon Tobin) the Lizzy Parks Band, DJ Cro plus guests
The Town Hall at 7.30pm, live music starts at 9pm (£15.00)
Friday 3rd October
Rush Hour Blues – Mike Hatton’s MHJQ in the Symphony Hall Foyer (Free)
If you’ve not come across them before, there are other CiB interviews on Vimeo with the likes of Capsule, 7 Inch Cinema and Ditto Music with more to come.
Festibull 2008: Battle of the Unsigned Bands
“Compete against other unsigned bands for the chance to support ‘Cage The Elephant’ at the gig of a lifetime”. That’s right, you can stop dreaming of Wembley and start thinking bigger – the mighty Bullring awaits
Stereographic – The New Art Gallery Walsall
Stereographic have been working on a “brand and communications refresh” for the New Art Gallery Walsall and here’s some of what they’ve been producing
Birmingham Bach Choir – Now Recruiting – Audiences Central
“Regular performances in Symphony Hall are accompanied by international orchestras like the English Chamber Orchestra, often with world-class soloists… You don’t have to be an expert or a great singer to join the Birmingham Bach Choir but you should be able to read music and to enjoy working hard with everyone else to achieve the high standards we look to maintain”
Facebook | Drop Beats Not Bombs Crew wanted
I don’t think they’re after people at the moment but if you wanted to get involved at some point then joining this Facebook group might be a good place to start
Director Jane Packman and the woods project team will be working in Highbury Park during September to create a promenade performance in the park at nightfall. We invite you to a “work in progess showing†on Thursday 2nd october at 7pm to see the work so far. Please wear sturdy footwear. We will guide you by torchlight around Highbury, encountering stories and characters as we go.
Jane has a very occasionally updated blog at janepackman.co.uk, although it doesn’t shed any more light on what will be happening. That’s no prob though, cos it looks interesting anyway. Just hope it’s dry.
Bad news from Friction Arts – with the builders due to arrive in a fortnight to start work on the refurb of The Edge Lee, their operations coordinator, has trapped a nerve in his back. With prep work to do that’s a bit of a disaster so they’re asking for a hand:
We need some volunteers to come along this Thursday 25th September to help clear the space. If you can’t make it then but have some other time over the next couple of weeks we still need your help. We will provide beer, tea coffee and snacks for all who can help, as well as our eternal gratitude and one in the favour bank. Get in touch if you can help – it’s bound to be a laugh – and wear old clothes!
If you wish to contact us try the Edge telephone number: +44(0)121 772 6160 or +44(0)121 772 5185 or in absolute emergencies on the mobile 07970 221708 or alternatively, alternatively you can email us at info@livearts.co.uk
If anyone can help them out then give them a shout.
Script are a registered charity based in the Custard Factory and are:
dedicated to developing and promoting new dramatic writing in the West Midlands
For their new project they’re:
inviting writers to submit a short (10 minute) play in response to the “Beijing Map Games†exhibition at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Images from the exhibition will appear shortly on www.scriptonline.net. Writers are asked to select an image and write a 10 minute play in response to its themes. Five plays will be selected and performed at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, in front of the exhibition, on Saturday 22nd November 2008
The deadline for submissions is 24 October.
Additionally, Script are:
offering free 2½ hour writing workshops for writers in the Chinese community to provide an introduction to playwriting. The two workshops will utilize the images from the Beijing Map Games exhibition and explore the ways in which they could be interpreted dramatically
This is a lovely example of how to use that free online stuff (call it blogging, Twittering, social media if you like) to drum up interest in your work.
Twitter is a micro-blogging service. Smile is a creative consultancy. Smile don’t have a blog as such but they have a Twitter account and a Smile website. They’re working on the Baskerville Project (as is Alex Hughes, whose well-timed post has just dropped into my RSS reader) and they’ve put some beautiful photos on their site and Twitterered to tell interested folk like me that they’re there.
I don’t quite know what they’re doing but I’m really interested in seeing the finished product now.
Two meet-ups on Thursday 25 Sept at TIC, Millennium Point (and the last Thursday of every month, come to mention it).
From 4-6pm there’s the Birmingham Music Network with a networking event for the city’s music-related peoples:
The Birmingham branch of Musicians Union will be supplying luxury chocolate biscuits and good coffee for all. There’s food and drink afterwards supplied by the creative networks lot too. Come and talk about music and what you’re up to and meet some new people
Then after that, and until 10pm, there’s the Creative Networks networking event. They don’t mention biscuits or coffee but do speak of “From Bedroom To Broadcast: How to break into TV and the battle to retain your filmmaking integrity thereafter” which is a talk by Lee Kern. Lee recently set up a fake TV production company called Monkey Tennis to pitch ridiculous ideas to commissioners so he sounds ok to me.
Both events are free. Here’s the flyer for the latter:
raise issues, concerns and/or promote countercultural events and activities
in and around Birmingham.
Why this has to be done as “a slap in the face to mainstream cultural developments” (which are to be demoted) isn’t yet clear but then I’m a live-and-let-live kinda guy.
There’s been little promotion so far, but targets have included Eastside Projects, Creative Republic and the council (via Artsfest). I’m looking forward to what the people behind this want to champion so will stick with it for a bit and hope the scent of crazy (excessive capitals/question marks and hiding behind a pseudonym) subsides a little.
The dust has hardly settled on last weekend’s excellent Project X Presents and many of the folk involved are already gearing up for ‘Celebrate Birmingham’s Underground’, a:
12 hour beach and warehouse celebration of our brummie underground scene
In an era of big headliners, its easy to forget the people who make it all happen, so this event is made up entirely of (some) of those people and the events and music they work so hard to promote
If you want to get a sense of the city’s non-Broad St night life then this would be a great taster session.
It’s been put together by the Night Times (still no web presence?) and Mr Elephant who have arranged for an incredible array of Birmingham’s underground musical talent to converge on The Rainbow Warehouse/Rainbow Beach tomorrow (Saturday 20 Sept).
This blog post on Mr Elephant’s site lists most of what’s going on – as well as music and visuals there’ll be stalls, workshops, beach games and a poodle promenade.
Digbeth is Good – Sunday Xpress open mic and dangling
Quoting the organisers – “open mic session this Sunday at the Adam & Eve, Bradford Street, Digbeth. Free entry, free roast potatoes, free arts & crafts, free junk stall, free entertainment, we’ll even give you some free advice if you ask for it. We are great. Kicks off at 3pm, goes on however long we want but definitely til 7pm”. I’m not sure what the dangling involves, mind
mama feel good this October!
Ah, my musical bias is showing. I like me some funk/soul/northern soul/afrobeat and latin so on Sat 25 Oct the Bulls Head will be the place to be
Rosie Kay kicks off the DanceXchange autumn season
On 24 Sept “DanceXchange Associate Artist Rosie Kay presents the premiere of new piece Supernova, plus the welcome return of her International Dance Festival Birmingham hit Double Points: K”
Capsule Blog » Have your portrait taken for Home Of Metal archive
An “opportunity for fans of Judas Priest, Napalm Death, Godflesh, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin to be photographed wearing their prized band t-shirts” At Scruffy Murphys in Birmingham on Friday 26 Sept 9pm – 11pm. Steve Gerrard will be doing the snapping
D’log – Mac call for artists
“There’s a call out for five new commissions for the new mac arts centre in Birmingham, which is currently being rebuilt”
